Millions of South Africans will vote in national elections on May 8, with President Ramaphosa touring the country to make the case that his ruling African National Congress, which fought for the end of apartheid, still deserves their vote.
A fire brigade washes away feces that was dumped on the main road ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa's visit to Makhanda on Freedom Day.
It’s not just that people in this part of Makhanda are still using the unhygienic and humiliating bucket toilet system. Garbage is piling up. The roads are full of potholes. The city water is dirty. “Our municipality is failing us,” Cetu said. “The ANC is failing us.” , bringing a long-overdue end to apartheid’s state-sponsored racism and subjugation. Black South Africans became citizens of their own country. Millions of families have received government housing, welfare grants and free education. The country’s homicide rate has nearly been halved.
Many would agree. Despite so many gains, most South Africans think the country is moving in the wrong direction, according to polling group Afrobarometer. That is due in no small part to the tenure of former President Jacob Zuma, whose nine years in office were characterized by almost constant scandal and state corruption whose depth is still just coming to light.
A boy waves a flag as members of the South African Air Force Silver Falcons fly over the Freedom Day event. Others aren’t so sure. One man stands at the rear of the tent, his arms folded skeptically across his chest. The city’s sewage infrastructure has not been maintained to keep up with a growing population, experts say. Raw sewage flows openly in some of the town’s waterways and even pools up in some homes. “The sewage treatment is operating at 100% and it’s on the verge of collapse,” said Matthew Weaver, a postdoctoral fellow at Rhodes University’s Institute for Water Research. “It’s like a ticking time bomb.
“The municipality has sunk into a black hole,” said Ayanda Kota, the group’s leader. “The problem is not in one individual. The problem is the culture within the municipality — the culture of patronage, the culture of corruption, the culture of greed.” Even if he does place part of the blame on residents who don’t pay their taxes and water bills, Mpahlwa agrees with the critics that poor oversight of the city’s finances in the past are at least partly responsible for the current state of affairs.
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